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Yesterday we arrived back in St. Louis from the Grassroots Biodiesel Conference. The drive was long, but the conference was worth it. Extra big thanks to Rachel, Leif and Lyle (man of 1,000 hats) of Piedmont Biofuels for all the work they did organizing the great event. It was attended by upwards of 100 people from around the world, all doing very interesting work on the ground floor of the biodiesel movement.

There was a gentleman from the Czech Republic who studies vehicle emissions not by putting the vehicle in a lab, but by installing a lab on the vehicle, testing its real world performance and emissions. There were researchers working on strains of algae for oil production that would grow in the desert. There were members of a University of Colorado program creating teaching materials for K-12 students on the topic of alternative fuels. The audience was diverse and far reaching, and everyone had come to meet others, and learn more.

I met quite a few amazing people, and a few valuable contacts. We also got a lot of work done. Maud, Girl Mark and I facilitated a discussion session about our Collaborative Biodiesel Tutorial project we are developing. It hopes to be a complete guide to learning about, and developing skills for using and making biodiesel. Much information has been gathered, but little has been done to organize the project, and make conceptual determinations as to what the audience wants. Our session was attended by experts like Lyle, down to people who were just learning about biodiesel. They let us know what they found valuable about existing resources, what they found problematic about existing resources, and what they felt the community needed in terms of educational materials. Our goals are more closely defined now, and more progress is ready to be made.

Much discussion was had in various sessions about how to start small businesses around biodiesel. Many cooperative biodiesel organizations have failed, but those that have survived discussed what they did to make it work, and keep it working. The major barrier is regulatory, selling biodiesel requires a tremendous amount of paperwork, and test results. The National Biodiesel Board makes much of this easier, but because they do not publicly release the results of their health effects testing (which the EPA requires from fuel producers), small producers are cut out of the loop. If you don’t make enough money to join the NBB, you can’t sell your fuel, but you can’t join the NBB until you are making money (by selling fuel). The catch-22 is being discussed right now at the National NBB conference in Florida, which is being attended by a large consortium of individuals from the grassroots movement to make the situation known, and seek solutions.

Here in St. Louis new ideas are starting to brew. We are discussing the possibilities of creating a business of some sort, and expanding our reach in the community. Teaching a course at the community college would be a natural activity, and is something we are pursuing. Making and selling biodiesel equipment would be another possibility, as is the distribution of another producer’s fuel. There are options, and we now know a lot more about them. Education is a natural direction, based on my experience, and will probably be our first move.

Stay tuned!

Last night at about 7pm I got into the Mercedes with Terri, Maud, and about 40 gallons of biodiesel. We pointed the car east and drove for about 13 hours. Why? Because of the Grassroots Biodiesel Conference held by Piedmont Biofuels and the Central Carolina Community College.

The conference is a two day discussion about the issues affecting small scale biodiesel producers.

The drive was largely uneventful, with the only problem being a brief shot climbing the mountains in West Virginia where the temperatures dropped to 9 degrees F, which was too cold for our 85% biodiesel blend. Our filters plugged up, the fuel gelled, and we slowed to about 20MPH. However, we added a little more petroleum diesel, a little more anti-gelling additive, and when the sun came up, we sped back up, and zoomed the rest of the way in.

We are staying with the good people at Piedmont, who have been very accomodating, and have done a great job of understanding their non-corporate audience. I expect good things to come from this weekend, and will be back in town on Monday. Wish us luck!

In order to get a glimpse into my future, I regularly check my horoscope. But since most astrologers are crap, I only have one trusted source. The Onion.

In addition to checking my own horoscope, I also like to check up on the futures of my friends. Who knows what horrible fates will befall them this week? I want to be one step ahead of the game so I can get the sympathy cards in the mail before noon.

Today Dennis’s horoscope was frighteningly accurate:

It’s actually possible that he’s already written it, based one some of the stuff I’ve seen him write. The title is probably just a subtext to one of his other titles or something. It’s OK, Dennis, we’ve got your back when those dipshits come after you.

I just recently bought myself a nice little X-mas present that I’m quite proud of. A DVD burner! Oh yes, a whole new realm of optical data storage is now at my fingertips. I’ve felt for years that the paltry 700Mb available on a CD-R was paltry and ineffective. 4.3Gb, or better yet 8.5Gb. That sounds more like it.

The drive I purchased is an “I/O Magic” from Office Depot. Normally I would never recommend that one purchase and I/O Magic, because that company just buys other random stuff, re-badges it, and sells it in office supply houses. However, sometimes they buy from a good company and re-badge a good product. In this case, the drive I purchased is actually a BenQ 1620A, which is a high quality and respectable drive.

It burns DVD-R and DVD+R at 16X, DVD-RW and DVD+RW at 4X, CD-R at 40X, and, get this, Double Layer DVD-R at 2.4X. Double layer DVD-Rs are the newest type, which hold a full 8.5Gb, allowing a direct copy of any commercial DVD Video. Excellent.

The best part about this BenQ drive is that they offer firmware upgrades on their website. The latest firmware update raised the Double Layer DVD-R write speed from 2.4X to 4X. Excellent!

If you are looking for one of these drives, check your local Office Depot. The drive is an I/O Magic, and the model number is IDVD16DD. Make sure that it mentions a 2.4X DL DVD-R speed somewhere on the box. I bought mine for $89.99 w/ a $30.00 rebate.

If you want a drive like this, they are available for around 70$ from various online retailers (search Pricewatch for DW1620 to get current prices). If you buy the drive in anything except a BenQ labeled retail box, you have an ‘OEM’ drive, which needs OEM firmware, and if you have a regular BenQ retail box, you need regular firmware.

Both types of firmware can be had at the BenQ firmware page. Drives like mine need the firmware for the DW1620A Generic, and BenQ retail drives need the DW1620 firmware. They are the same firmwares, except that the retail edition gets updated first, and then they move that update to the OEM version. If you want the highest possible firmware, it is possible to use a hacked firmware to downgrade a 1620 OEM to a 1600, and then re-upgrade it to a retail 1620. However, that advanced technique will take some research on your part. Don’t be saddened though, the major updates, giving us the 4X DL DVD-R speed, for instance, are common to both drive types. You don’t really need to be on the bleeding edge.